


Strawberries and Cigarettes

by historicaldestiels



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe- Mute, Cas owns a bookstore, Castiel Has Glasses, Castiel Has a Crush on Dean Winchester, Dean is mute, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gabriel runs the side cafe, M/M, it's mostly fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 09:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17464523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/historicaldestiels/pseuds/historicaldestiels
Summary: Dean smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling. Castiel can't help but stare.He's going to have to learn ASL now.





	Strawberries and Cigarettes

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a kudos or a comment, I'd appreciate that! 
> 
> Thanks for reading.

The door opens with a gust of cold air and a yelp from a particularly hard to miss tall man. “Holy crap, it’s cold!” 

 

Castiel’s head shoots up from behind the copy of "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Greene. It’s one of his favorite novels, sad but beautiful. He closes the worn pages and sets it down on the counter, smiling. He can’t see who just walked in. Everything beyond the nearest bookshelf is a blurry mess. “Hi, welcome to Café Scientam. Can I help you with anything?” 

 

Café Scientam is the little bookshop Castiel and his brother, Gabriel own. It’s half café, half bookstore, with Gabriel’s café side being linked to the bookstore through a glass door. Castiel firmly refuses to have anyone come into the bookstore with food or drinks (drinks especially). It pisses of Gabriel, who says he’s losing business because of his rule, but what happens if someone dumps coffee on the books? Castiel doesn’t really want to throw away a bunch of perfectly good novels because some fool spilled something on them. 

 

It’s happened once, when the store first opened a month ago. Luckily, the person paid for the book they spilled their iced cappuccino on but still. No drinks. Books are expensive. 

 

“Hey, Cas!” The customer says, and Cas has to pull his cobalt blue square-frame glasses from the top of his head to see who it is. Damn you, near-sight. He also pulls his legs off the table and sits normally, because sitting with your feet on the checkout counter isn’t professional. 

 

“Oh! Hi, Sam! Sorry, I couldn’t see you.” His smile goes from very obviously fake to sheepish. 

 

Sam’s cocoa brown hair is messy, probably from the wind. He’s in his usual sensible outfit, collared shirt and blazer. A side effect of being a lawyer, Cas supposes. He’s never seen Sam in anything but suits, blazers, or polos. Sam comes by the café almost every day, working on papers and then buying the occasional book. He usually comes alone, but this time, he brought someone along. He hovers slightly behind Sam, shorter with freckles and ashy brown hair. 

 

This man is completely different from Sam, wearing a leather jacket and a tee-shirt. He looks almost nervous, jade eyes flitting between the bookshelves and Cas like a scared cat. Cas raises an eyebrow at this. 

 

“Who’s this?” Cas points at the skittish-but-attractive man, who waves his hands at Sam. Sam does the same, but slightly different. His is a little more halted. 

 

“This is my brother, Dean.” Sam gestures toward Dean, who nods and walks away. “Hey! Dean, don’t walk away!” 

 

Dean makes a noise like a huff and stops but doesn’t come back. Castiel is beyond confused now, but he doesn’t say anything pertaining to it. Dean waves something, and Sam responds by waving toward himself and pulling his hand toward himself. 

 

Cas realizes they’re speaking sign language then. It’s a shocking realization, and he’s slightly ashamed he didn’t catch it earlier. “Is he deaf?” Cas blurts. He blushes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that.” 

 

Dean rolls his eyes, and Sam nudges him. Their interactions remind Cas of him and Gabriel, the one grumpy brother and the somewhat positive brother. Sam huffs and turns back to Cas, leaning on the dark wood counter. Dean takes a book off the tiny bookshelf Cas keeps on the checkout counter. It’s the area where Cas puts the newer, more popular books. The book Dean’s holding is red. Cas is ninety-percent sure it’s "Love, Simon". Interesting book choice. 

 

Sam sighs. Castiel has never met someone who can express so much emotion in a sigh. In the two weeks that Sam has been coming to the shop, Cas has learned to tell the difference between them. This one is the _I swear to God I’m going to kill myself_. “Dean’s not deaf but communicates in mostly ASL. He’s mute.” 

 

“Oh!” Cas’ eyes widen. Cas catches Dean’s eye for a second, but he looks away before Cas can get a good look. He swears he could see a few flecks of gold in Dean’s eyes, but Cas can't quite tell. Dean has nice eyes, Cas decides, resting his head on his hands watching Dean browse a few paranormal books. “I feel like I could’ve caught that sooner.” 

 

“No, you’re fine.” Sam shrugs. “Most people just assume he’s antisocial. Which he is.” 

 

Cas smiles. “Huh. Looks like I’m gonna have to learn sign language then.” 

 

“What? Why?” Sam frowns, puzzled. Dean looks up from a copy of Supernatural. 

 

“So, I can understand what he’s saying without needing a translator. If he’s anything like you, I want to get to know him.” Castiel smiles, a real smile. He doesn’t smile very much, but he’s been told that when he does it’s attractive. Dean meets his eye again, and he smiles just a little. It’s cute, and the corners of his eyes crinkle just a little bit. Castiel’s smile grows wider. 

 

“So, you can flirt, you mean,” Gabriel says, scaring the crap out of Cas. Cas throws the pen he was fidgeting with, hitting Sam in the chest. He hadn’t even heard the door to the café open. 

 

“Jesus Christ, Gabriel, don’t scare me like that.” Sam hands Cas the pen back, and Cas shrugs apologetically. Then he returns to ranting at his jerk of a brother. “Is that the reason you don’t want me to put a bell up there? So you can scare me in front of customers?” 

 

“I would hardly call the Winchesters just customers,” Gabe says, patting Sam on the back. Cas rolls his eyes behind his glasses. “How you two been?” 

 

“Good.” 

 

Dean gives a halfhearted thumbs-up, flipping through a book on astronomy. Gabriel chuckles, and Cas narrows his eyes. If Gabriel chuckles, he can’t be up to anything good. Then again, is he ever up to anything good? 

 

“So, how’s flirting with Mute Boy over there going?” Gabriel leans on the counter, taking the spray can filled with whipped cream out of his apron pocket and spraying some in his mouth. Cas swats at him, confiscating the can. Does “no food” mean nothing to this man?! 

 

“I’m not flirting, first off, second off, no food or drink! It’ll get on the books.” Castiel says it all in a breathy huff, exasperation and embarrassment coloring his cheeks a pale pink. Gabriel rolls his eyes when Cas sets the can down on the floor next to his rolling office chair. “Anyways, what do you want?” 

 

“I was going to ask if Sam and Dean want a drink, before you so rudely interrupted me.” 

 

“Rudely?! You little-” 

 

“Okay, both of you, chill.” Sam interrupts, raising his hands in a ‘please shut up’. “A drink sounds lovely, Gabe. I’ll take a chai latte and... Dean, what do you want?” 

 

Dean waves his hands in a gesture that, according to Sam’s translation, means ‘a black coffee, please’. Gabe sighs. “Just a black coffee? Jeez, challenge me a little.” He disappears into the café, Sam trailing behind him. Cas can hear their conversation and the sound of the blender whirring. 

 

Dean shrugs, walking over to the checkout desk and sets down the astronomy book and The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. Some creative choices, but people have acquired tastes. He glances over at the little box of bookmarks that Cas sells for a buck each. Dean tosses one in as well, a simple black ribbon with a little silver star shape hanging off it. 

 

“Gabe, make me a strawberry frappe.” Cas says, ringing up Dean’s purchase. “That’ll be forty-five fifty.” 

 

Dean hands Cas the cash. Cas bags the books and hands them to Dean, their fingers brushing. It was slow enough that Cas could feel how warm Dean’s hands are, and his face turns a darker pink. Dean’s eyes are a beautiful shade of green, and oh god, Cas can’t do anything but stare, a goofy smile on his face. Dean’s smiling that adorable half-smile; Cas can’t breathe. He knows it’s foolish, very blatantly checking out his friend’s brother, but he can’t help it. “You have pretty eyes,” He whispers. 

 

Dean’s smile grows wider, and he nods. He points at Cas’ chest, then brings his index fingers together, slightly to the right, and then does it again more to the left. Cas realizes later that Dean was saying “you too”. 

 

Gabriel coughs very loudly and ruins the moment. Dean backs away like a scared cat, and Cas stares at his hands. “Hey, gays, I got your drinks.” 

 

“I think you mean guys.” Cas frowns. Gabriel sets down his pink-ish strawberries and cream frappe on The Fault in Our Stars. Cas swipes it off, disdain evident in the way he glares at Gabriel like he just ran over his dog. “Hey, that’s my book!” 

 

“Oh, shut it, it’s an old copy anyways.” Gabriel shrugs and hands Dean the coffee. Dean brings his hand to his lips and pushes it down and outward, a gesture Cas recognizes as thank you. 

 

“You’re an old copy,” Cas mumbles, taking a sip of his drink. Sweet and cold floods his mouth, one of his favorite flavors. Gabriel always makes the best frappes, better than Starbucks. 

 

“That definitely makes sense.” Gabe shakes his head, chuckling. “I’m going to go pester Sam and leave you alone to read like a hermit. You coming, Dean?” 

 

Dean glances at Cas almost mournfully, and follows Gabriel, leaving Cas alone to think. 

 

Cas sighs, picking up his book and putting his feet back up on the checkout counter. He’s definitely going to learn sign language now.


End file.
